Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 9, 2021
I found this a good challenge with two terms that were new to me (2dn, LLANERO and 22ac, EASY MEAT), another with a new meaning (26ac, CHAPLET) and a third that I knew only vaguely (8dn, CONCUPISCENCE). My favourites are 1 (CLARINETTIST), 15 (PROPAGATOR), 21 (ANGLING) and 27 (CORNICE).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CLARINETTIST | Musician’s recital isn’t bad? About time! (12) |
| T (time) in (about) anagram (bad) of RECITAL ISNT | ||
| 10 | OPALINE | Glass is to give view around a lake (7) |
| A (a) + L (lake) together in (around) OPINE (to give view) | ||
| 11 | ARTICLE | It could be a tiny portion, with no starter (7) |
| [p]ARTICLE (tiny portion with no starter) | ||
| 12 | CHEER | Earl tucked into expensive French food (5) |
| E (earl) in (tucked into) CHER (expensive French). An archaic meaning of ‘cheer’ is provisions for a feast. | ||
| 13 | ASSORTED | Divers when swimming do rest (8) |
| AS (when) + anagram (swimming) of DO REST | ||
| 15 | PROPAGATOR | Support a reptile breeder (10) |
| PROP (support) + A (a) + GATOR (reptile) | ||
| 16 | TSAR | One emperor or another’s follower briefly returned (4) |
| RAST[a] (another’s follower briefly) backwards (returned) | ||
| 18 | SAGO | Indian spinach has zero starch (4) |
| SAG (Indian spinach) + O (zero) | ||
| 20 | REALLOCATE | Redistribute troubled locale’s housing cost? On the contrary (10) |
| Anagram (troubled) of LOCALE in (housing…on the contrary) RATE (cost) | ||
| 22 | EASY MEAT | Mug shot a suspect finally may see (4,4) |
| Anagram (shot) of A [suspec]T MAY SEE. I had to look this one up. I was familiar with EASY MARK but not EASY MEAT (which means much the same thing). | ||
| 24 | WAGER | Name-dropping scorer is to make bet (5) |
| WAG[n]ER (name-dropping scorer) | ||
| 26 | CHAPLET | Wreath quietly placed in holiday home (7) |
| P (quietly) in (placed in) CHALET (holiday home) | ||
| 27 | CORNICE | Blimey! Delightful architectural feature! (7) |
| COR (blimey) + NICE (delightful) | ||
| 28 | ERROR MESSAGE | Windows may show one splashed some grease around car (5,7) |
| RR (car, i.e. Rolls Royce) in (around) anagram (splashed) of SOME GREASE | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LLANERO | Everyone turned on tyrant, one from the plains (7) |
| ALL (everyone) backwards (turned) + NERO (tyrant). ‘Llanero’ is a new word to me meaning a cowboy or herdsman in Spanish America. | ||
| 3 | RAILROAD | Dragoon fixed radar with oil (8) |
| Anagram (fixed) of RADAR OIL | ||
| 4 | NEED | Call for massage on the phone (4) |
| Homophone (on the phone) of “knead” (massage) | ||
| 5 | TOADSTOOLS | They’re poisonous to pandas regularly, more than one saw? (10) |
| TO (to) + [p]A[n]D[a]S + TOOLS (more than one saw) | ||
| 6 | INTRO | Bars to open in fortnight? That’s looking up (5) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 7 | TACITUS | Historian understood American (7) |
| TACIT (understood) + US (American) | ||
| 8 | CONCUPISCENCE | Caught up in sense of morality, I promoted lust (13) |
| C (caught) + UP (up) in (in) CONSCIENCE (sense of morality) with the ‘I’ moved up two places (promoted). Concupiscence is not a word I know well. | ||
| 9 | TENDER-HEARTED | Compassionate description of moth-eaten derelicts? (6-7) |
| [moth-ea]TENDER[elicts] | ||
| 14 | MALEFACTOR | Masculine fellow, one taking role as criminal (10) |
| MALE (masculine) + F (fellow) + ACTOR (one taking role) | ||
| 17 | FORWARDS | Crosses to net reflected inexperienced footballers? (8) |
| RAW (inexperienced) backwards (reflected) in (to net) FORDS (crosses) | ||
| 19 | GO SPARE | Be unused and become furious (2,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | ANGLING | Content to land good fish, doing this? (7) |
| [l]AN[d] + G (good) + LING (fish) | ||
| 23 | MOLAR | Tooth damage has initially occasioned large filling (5) |
| O[ccasioned] + L (large) together in (filling) MAR (damage) | ||
| 25 | ACRE | One secures right to get some land (4) |
| R (right) in (secures) ACE (one) | ||
I enjoyed this weeks’s puzzle a lot and loved PROPAGATOR and the very elegant TENDER-HEARTED. A few new words for me, too. Thank you Pete and Mudd
Between them, Alberich, Artexlen and Mudd seem to have cornered this weekend slot; I enjoy their contrasting styles and the chance to savour their puzzles.
This was another pleasurable solve ending up in the NE with TACITUS/TSAR.
This was a relatively swift and steady solve with much to like. My only hiccough was putting an unparsed ‘easy mark’ for 22a, misled by ‘shot’, but then MALEFACTOR made it necessary to re-examine. Like Pete, I’m not familiar with the expression EASY MEAT but the parsing checked out. Interestingly, MUG SHOT appeared in the last Alberich, if memory serves.
Thumbs up for GO SPARE, SAGO, TSAR, CORNICE and PROPAGATOR.
Pete’s blog was needed to properly parse three of the perimeter clues and the ‘Wagner’ of 24a. Thanks to him and the setter for re-acquainting me with the wonderful CONCUPISCENCE and CHEER in the festive food sense.
Looking at my copy of this crossword reminds me that I had a tougher-than-usual experience given the number of look-up’s I needed. I still enjoyed much of it including ARTICLE, FORWARDS, and ANGLING. Very amused by the wordplay for TENDER-HEARTED. Thanks to both.
Thanks Alberich and Pete
This was a puzzle that took longer than normal due to doing other stuff at the same time. Entertaining as usual with my favourites being TOADSTOOLS and CONCUPISCENCE.
Didn’t end up seeing the TENDER in ‘moth-eaTEN DERelicts, although it was clear that TENDER-HEARTED was the answer. Had to look up SAG as the Indian spinach, although my daughter reminded me that SAAG was. Didn’t know that meaning of ‘dragoon’.
Finished in the SW corner with EASY MEAT (which is a common term here), SAGO (with that SAG) and GO SPARE as the tricky last one in.
Excellent crossword, Alberich, with lots of smiles – too many to mention, but my favourite was 5d TOADSTOOLS.
Thanks Pete for the blog. Like you I was unfamiliar with EASY MEAT at 22a, so I’m glad you confirmed my guess.
Great entertainment Alberich – I enjoyed the tussle. This one seemed meatier than some recently and I know it took me more than the one snooze to finish.
Thanks for the explanations Pete. Appreciated as always.
Unfortunately SAGO brought to mind puddings of days gone by.
I was most amused by TENDERHEARTED, not at all seeing word play until I read Pete’s explanation. I was also myself EASY MEAT to 22d. I decided too early that something a suspect might finally see was ‘last meal’ and although that was a real stretch in terms of parsing it distracted me from other options for a while.